hopeful

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Pure Imagination

There's a whole lot keeping me from blogging these days, but nothing is going to stop me from taking a moment on this night to share the story of a very special birthday for a very special kid. This guy. This guy who, six years ago almost exactly to the minute as I write, came into the world and made me a mama. Today...

Thursday, July 18, 2013

No-Bake Energy Bites

Hope 1:19 PM 0 Comments

So a few weeks back, I attempted to make homemade breakfast bars with no success whatsoever. I really wanted to find a homemade alternative to processed snack bars - I find that when I am trying to eat healthily, I all too easily fall into the trap of purchasing granola bars and energy bars which - let's be honest - just...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Jiggity Jig

Hope 3:26 PM 0 Comments

We're home. Sigh. It was a lovely, lovely vacation, filled with family and friends and beauty and happy kids. When it comes to food, two things happen on the flip side of a vacation: we come home with a renewed commitment to healthy eating (generally brought on by weeks of microbrewed beer consumption and an "I'm on...

Thursday, June 27, 2013

When blogs go wrong

Hope 11:54 AM 1 Comments

I had the best idea for getting back into this blogging thing. As mentioned in my previous post, we're getting ready for our annual trip to Montana. I remembered that I had filed away a recipe I found online for homemade breakfast bars, and thought that would be just the thing for our bright and early departure. It was...

Monday, June 24, 2013

On the Road Again

Hope 4:51 PM 0 Comments

I can't believe a year has passed since we were preparing for our epic road trip last June. So much has changed - Finn is getting ready to start Kindergarten, Emmett is a lot less baby and a lot more boy, Sean is a permanent principal, I'm a year into this full time working mom gig - and yet some things feel exactly the...

Friday, May 3, 2013

An unexpected day at home + a perfect spring risotto

Hope 9:58 PM 0 Comments

I'm just a few short weeks from completing my first school year as the full time working mother of two, and I think that overall it has been a success. When I am home, I'm happy to be home; when I am at work, I'm happy to be at work...so I guess that is a win. But on those occasional days when I've got a sick kid who has...

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Our Little Buckaroo - Part II

Hope 11:26 AM 1 Comments

After returning from our cowboy adventure on the beautiful River to River Trail of Southern Illinois, it was time to buckle down and get ready for a "Wild, Wild West" birthday party. Highlights included hot dogs cooked over the fire pit, a half dozen neighborhood kids in cowboy hats running around, plenty of bluegrass...

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Our Little Buckaroo - Part I

Hope 12:30 PM 2 Comments

Emmett is in the midst of one of those wonderful toddler phases wherein he doesn't just like cowboys...he sincerely thinks he is a cowboy. He spends his evenings trotting around the house on a stick horse and if he doesn't wear his cowboy boots to preschool, he most certainly puts them on upon his return. It was therefore...

Monday, March 25, 2013

Sunday Dinner: Couscous and Bean-Stuffed Eggplant with Garlic Tomato Sauce

Hope 7:42 AM 0 Comments

It snowed here yesterday. A lot. Ignoring the fact for a moment that it is March 25th, it is a beautiful snow - the trees are decked out in thick layers of white, their delicate bud-covered branches weighed down by the heft of it. We spent most of Sunday afternoon watching from inside and waiting for the snow day...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

St. Patrick's Day Biscuits

Hope 6:52 PM 0 Comments

We take St. Patrick's Day pretty seriously around here. In the old days, that meant a lot of loud Irish punk and some serious pub carousing. Now we settle for excessive amounts of green clothing, nothing but traditional Irish music on the iPod, and cold beverages in a can poured perfectly into pint glasses (see here)...

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Chocolate Chip Heaven

Hope 6:04 PM 2 Comments

My husband Sean is not a fan of recipes; he is far too casual a cook to follow someone else's instructions. His favorite day to make dinner is the day when I look at the crossed-out list of meal options on the fridge and swear there is nothing to eat. He then opens the fridge, roots around, and comes up with something...

Friday, February 1, 2013

Knit and Purl for Mama

Hope 11:50 AM 4 Comments

I taught myself to knit in the fall of 1997. I was in India on study abroad and, after three months spent with a large group of American students at a monastery in Bodh Gaya, found myself alone and very cold in the mountain town of Darjeeling for the independent study portion of the semester. After months of intense communal...

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Bugs

Hope 8:27 PM 0 Comments

Our house has been overtaken by bugs -- not the six legged variety, but the itty bitty kind that manifest as aches, chills, fevers, nausea, coughs, headaches, and runny noses. No one is super sick, but everyone is a little bit sick with a whole spectrum of different symptoms. It was therefore not difficult to declare this...

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Weekday Winner: Corn Bread Casserole

Hope 10:21 AM 0 Comments

I haven't posted a weekday winner in a while, but this is just the recipe for my comeback. I have loved this dinner for years, and it meets all the qualifications for a great weeknight meal - family-friendly, easy to make, quick to assemble then hands-off to cook. I wish I could tell you where I got the recipe from, but...

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Dawn of "Dapper Dinner"

Hope 2:00 PM 3 Comments

January can be a rough month; the holidays are over, spring is in the distant future, the days are cold, the nights dark. Sean and I had several discussions on this topic during the last lingering days of our winter break, and we decided to get proactive. As you may recall, during the month of December our kids had an...

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Holiday Images

Hope 2:49 PM 1 Comments

December was an abundantly full month for our family. Here are a few favorite pics from the holiday season. I am, as always, "hopeful" that I can find a way to write more often in the months to come; in the meantime, I hope 2013 is off to a wonderful start for everyone! Brother love at the Christmas tree farm. Always...

hopeful

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Pure Imagination

Thursday, July 18, 2013

No-Bake Energy Bites

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Jiggity Jig

Thursday, June 27, 2013

When blogs go wrong

Monday, June 24, 2013

On the Road Again

Friday, May 3, 2013

An unexpected day at home + a perfect spring risotto

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Our Little Buckaroo - Part II

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Our Little Buckaroo - Part I

Monday, March 25, 2013

Sunday Dinner: Couscous and Bean-Stuffed Eggplant with Garlic Tomato Sauce

Thursday, March 21, 2013

St. Patrick's Day Biscuits

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Chocolate Chip Heaven

Friday, February 1, 2013

Knit and Purl for Mama

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Bugs

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Weekday Winner: Corn Bread Casserole

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The Dawn of "Dapper Dinner"

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Holiday Images

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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Monday, June 24, 2013

Friday, May 3, 2013

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Thursday, January 3, 2013

About Me:

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